Why wool dryer balls?

I was eager to buck the dryer-sheet habit but to find a green solution that worked just as well at softening fabrics. Back when we didn’t have a standard washer/dryer, I used hang drying for most of my clothes. What I didn’t love was how stiff my towels and jeans always were, despite a vinegar rinse, and how all the cat hair and lint stayed put.

The final shove? Realizing a newborn was on the way. I had to wash homebirth towels and linens, a fluff stash of cloth diapers, and umpteen teensy baby clothes. How could I do the equivalent of rubbing caustic, cancer-causing chemicals all over my vulnerable, just-born baby?

(Um, sorry to the rest of my family that it took till then to make the switch…)

I looked into various options for natural fabric softening, but the one that caught my eye was wool dryer balls. You know I’m all smoochy-smoochy with wool anyway. So I figured it had to be good for this use, too, right?

Well, I honestly wasn’t sure. Could throwing a couple wool balls in with a load of laundry really soften up jeans and towels? If not, there was no advantage to just doing without the dryer sheets and enduring a fabric-softener-less life.

I knew I needed to test some firsthand. Shelly of The Green Belle Shoppe by Shelly Rose Designs came to the rescue!

The Green Belle Shoppe wool dryer balls: First impressions

First of all, they came all pretty-like. By the by, Shelly ships them in eco-friendly mailers, and she ships fast.

The balls were lovely, and quite large — each a bit larger than a tennis ball. The wool is soft and well felted. I know whereof I speak, because I made a couple wool dryer balls of my own following Anktangle’s tutorial and mine did not end up nearly so smooth and uniform. These balls have stayed perfectly smooth since I first received them a couple months ago, although I’ve heard if they do rough up, you can just trim off any surface nubs.

Some of Shelly’s wool balls are a single color, but I loved how she wove different yarn threads through the surface of these ones. The design is striking. Just in case you were worried, any dyed yarn she uses is color-fast and won’t come off on your clothes.

And the smell? Ah! I chose to have mine scented, so that I could review all possible aspects on offer. That said, you can choose not to have yours scented as well. Shelly has a list of scents made from natural essential oils. I chose Butt Naked so that I could tell you I chose Butt Naked. It was between that and Monkey Farts. Also, the description drew me in:

You can request how heavily or lightly scented you want your dryer balls. I was expecting the scent not to be very noticeable, since it’s natural (I guess I have low expectations?), but I could smell it on our clothes after drying with the balls, and it was quite lovely. After a number of weeks, the scent has dissipated, but it can be refreshed by once more applying essential oils (your own or the same ones Shelly uses).

Yes, yes, but do they work?

I have good news. They do!

I was surprised and pleased. The fabric softening is a factor of having the heft of the balls beat against your clothes. That’s why there are PVC options out there and thrifty suggestions to just use tennis balls. I appreciate that the wool inner and outer of these makes them rather gentle floggers of my clothing. Unlike the PVC counterparts, these won’t snag or mutilate delicates, and yet they are truly effective. My jeans and towels came out feeling just as if I’d used dryer sheets. I know! I was so excited.

As for static? I have somewhat mixed results there. I’m wondering if having more of the balls would help or not. What I have noticed is that it’s only the synthetics in the dryer that get staticky, and suggestions to cut down on it include not mixing synthetics and natural fibers in the dryer, not drying all the way (letting them air dry the last little bit), and — my preferred plan right now — just not care too much about it. I haven’t found the static affecting anything once I’ve taken everything out of the dryer and started wearing or using it; it’s just a little crackle while I’m folding.

The dryer balls also claim to cut down on drying time. I was hoping I’d be able to quantify this, but I’m kind of hopeless about paying attention to how long it was taking before versus now. I think it is in fact taking less time, and I trust that if I had more of the balls in there (I currently have four — two from The Green Belle Shoppe and two I made), it would cut down even further. It just makes sense to me, given the absorbent properties of wool and the fact that the balls fluff and separate the clothes as they spin.

I wondered about extra noise from having balls bumping around in the dryer, but it doesn’t bother me. I can hear that it’s a bit louder, but not much louder than a dryer usually is. I think it might be that they’re all wool that helps with that — I’d imagine harder balls might be louder. (Like, say, the racket the clasps on my son’s overalls make!)

One thing I really appreciate about wool dryer balls is that they’re cloth diaper friendly. I knew I would be washing cloth diapers of my own, and I knew using fabric softener or dryer sheets is a no-no. I love that having the wool dryer balls cuts down on the drying time while still softening up the prefolds. (Just make sure you use your laundry tabs for any Aplix/Velcro closures so they don’t attach themselves to a ball!)

Final thoughts

I am so pleased with my wool dryer balls from The Green Belle Shoppe. They’re pretty, they smell nice, and they work hard. (That makes me want to make some weird joke comparing them against me, but I’ll resist.)

I’m happy knowing I’m not coating my family in chemicals. My family is happy with our fresh, soft laundry.

See that stack of homebirth towels and receiving blankets there? They were nice and clean and lightly scented with Butt Naked — safe and green and awaiting the birth of my little one.

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Disclosure: Shelly Rose sent our reviewer two wool dryer balls for review.
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